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Wicked Pictures

Open, unassuming and vulnerable, Wicked Video owner Steve Orenstein presents a sharp contrast to the typically close-lipped approach of Reuben Sturman, Steve Hirsch and Mark Carriere.

Eighteen months after splitting off from Reuben Gottesman's Xcitement Video in 1993, Steve hired Caballero's head of sales Joy King.

"Everyone thought that I had hired Joy to do sales," Orenstein told me in May 1997 at the first Erotica LA show. "But no, I had a sales person. I hired her to do publicity. I needed PR. Sales come from that. You can fight to sell all day long, but when you get the right PR, buyers come to you."

When Steve combined the talents of King with Jenna Jameson in early 1995, Wicked rose to the top of the small porn companies. Despite its success, Steve's company remains a family affair. Orenstein's mom keeps track of his books.

Joy King's younger sister began as a receptionist. She now helps the head of overseas sales as well as is married to Steve. They've been together since the beginning of 1996.

"I live with a very straight girl who has a hard time with this business.

"I have a typical Jewish mother," says Orenstein. "No woman is ever good enough for her son."

Too shy to swing, Steve never "lived the life" of a pornographer though he did date performer P.J. Sparxx for six months.

"I'm not an exhibitionist. I'm not in this business because I'm the type of guy who'd be drawn to it. I fell into it."

Born in 6/30/62, Orenstein moved from New York to Los Angeles at age 15. His mother worked for a porn magazine distributor and Steve helped out during summer vacations. After dropping out of college at 19, he worked full time for an adult bookstore. Then he moved on to California Liquid Publishing Company owned by Al Tapper. After two years, in October of 1984, Reuben Gottesman hired Steve to run the warehouse of Xcitement Video. Both men were busted for selling Traci Lords tapes in 1988. Steve received five years probation.

Gottesman and Orenstein parted ways in March 1993 and Steve formed Wicked.

"The Clinton administration has been much more mellow [about prosecuting pornographers]," says Orenstein. "I only ship to distributors. I don't ship to stores. Because I have a prior conviction, I'll go to jail if I get convicted again."

Wicked's web site, along with the sites of the other major porn production companies, has yet to turn a profit. "I've found that the guys making the big money in their web sites are ripping off people. They don't have to worry about their reputations. They steal content, double bill... I can't do that. So we struggle..."

In 1994, Wicked spent $21,000 to make Haunted Nights, Steve's biggest budgeted production to that point. It won the 1995 AVN Best Video Award. The next year he made Blue Movie, Wicked's sole shot-on-film effort which cost $80,000. In 1996, Wicked made Conquest, which cost $110,000. In 1997, Wicked plans a $150,000 firefighting movie.

"When I started in 1994, $15,000 was the high end."

Steve's in-house director is Brad Armstrong.

"I'd never make a movie myself," says Orenstein. "But I can spot problems. After they put it all together, I ask, 'what if this happens, or that happens?'... I have no interest in going further than that."

Selling 30,000 units in nine months, Conquest earned its way quicker than most of Wicked's productions. Though Steve held off selling it to cable TV for six months, he eventually made a deal with Spice for $15,000 for American rights.

Orenstein's adopted much of Steve Hirsch's philosophy, including lush production values and contract girls. "Steve started Vivid in 1985 and hasn't done much wrong since... He usually does things first.

"My company combines the methods of VCA and Vivid. I do business like Russ Hampshire [VCA owner] does business [honestly] but the look of my business is more like Vivid."

Until 1996, Steve told strangers that he worked in video. Now he tells them he produces adult movies. "Most want a free tape."

Wicked Pictures - Falling Apart At The Seams?

3/30/01

Fear Zeus writes: What is there left to say? First Jenna….now Alexa. Wicked is down to two contract stars with a third on it's way. But the third has been around for years. Not exactly "fresh" new material. What in the wide world of porn is going on in the "cozy" office on Canoga Park?

Steve-O is a great guy….a sweetheart to anyone that knows him. Girls loved working for him. He was courteous, respectful, and a down to earth lovable guy. If you enter his office and you see him for the first time, you think that he is there to assist the President of Wicked pictures for materials, coffee, copies, etc. Then you find out he IS the president of Wicked pictures. He has not changed a bit since back in the days of working in a video shipping warehouse.

So what happened? Has he changed? Has he gotten an inflated ego? The answer is no!! So what's the problem? Why the internal mess? Why the bickering and the eternal conflict within the girls and the staff at Wicked?

The answer is a person who I will not name [Joy King]. But the person knows who he/she is. This person comes with a smile. Tells you hello, and makes you feel liked. But there is no real sincere behind that smile. This person can tell you that you are great, and then curses you out in front of other people the second you walk out the door. This person is in charge…and constantly reminds you of it. If you have an idea and it works, he/she takes the credit. If it bombs, you are reminded that you failed and it's your fault. You are in a constant lose/lose situation.

I'm glad Jenna left…it was long overdue. And Alexa? Well I would leave too if I was constantly told how fat I am and that I need to get into a weight program. And if you recently met Alexa, she has curves that would make Raquel Welch in her prime full of envy. Alexa is a size 1 or 2….. she needs a weight program??? You want to know what "this" person felt was a serious answer to Alexa's "weight problem"? Exact words out of his/her mouth, "She needs to get back on drugs…hell I will even buy it for her!!" Real nice huh? So why this post? What is the purpose of writing this message?

Steve-O deserves better than this. He deserves better professionalism from his "top" people. These people are an extension of him and his Wicked company. If they can't control their actions in the manner that Steve would himself….then they need to get off the ship before they put a hole at the bottom and sink the S.S. Wicked entirely.

Steve, I hope you do read this post and take it seriously. I hope you realize that what I'm saying has truth in it. And although it might be painful for you to rectify this situation, you will do it in the best interest of Wicked pictures. And to the person that I am addressing as the "problem"….underhanded actions never prevails. Life has a way of coming around and giving it back to you 10 times worse…..trust me!!!

Fear Zeus writes a day later: Luke, it seems that my post has created a buzz in the industry. Sounds like we are all on the same page. People knew who it was immediately. By the way...the firing of Swift was put on hold after the Alexa retirement. Temptress is still good as gone. A shame....she had such a beautiful face with enormous potential. Maybe some day she will realize how big she can become if she can just put some effort into herself.

Luke says: It took me two months to figure out that FearZeus referred to Joy King, head of publicity at Wicked and Steve Orenstein's right hand woman. Steve's married to Joy's sister. I could've figured this out right away but I've only had good experiences with Joy King and she's always struck me as the height of congeniality and professionalism. So l-keford.com can not endorse the sentiments above.

FearZeus writes: Lukey, she must be one of the most phoniest people that I have ever met. You see, people think she is a "bitch". But that doesn't bother me. If you are going to be a "bitch" then be true about it and accept it as your personality. I can respect that!! But faking that you are nice....and then behind your back just pushing you off a cliff when you are not looking, then telling everybody else that it was the wind.....well that's just straight up PHONY!!!! And the irony in her name is...what do you call her without getting yourself sick?? Calling her "Joy" just ruins Webster's definition of the word....and calling her "Ms. King" just makes you wish that England's Royal Family never should have allowed the word "King" as a surname in the english language!!! That is my opinion and I'm sticking to it!!!

5/20/01

Frank Rich writes in the New York Times Sunday Magazine:

Typifying this ambivalence is Steve Orenstein, 38, the owner of Wicked Pictures. He made his accidental entrance into the porn business through his mother -- who got him a part-time job when she worked as a bookkeeper at an adult-book distributor and he was 18. But he does not seem eager to reveal his calling to his 9-year-old stepdaughter.

"Being in the business you walk that line all the time -- do you say what you do or not?" he says. Orenstein has revealed his true profession to only a handful of people whom he and his wife have met on the PTA circuit. "I'm comfortable with what I do," he says, "but I don't want parents of our child's friends saying their kids can't play with her because of it." His stepdaughter has noticed the Wicked logo on his shirt. "She knows I make something only adults can see."

The Orensteins have spoken to a therapist about the inevitable day of reckoning with their child. "The counselors say don't tell her yet," he says, "don't overexplain." But surely she'll guess by adolescence? Orenstein, a slight, nervous man with a reputation as a worrier, merely shrugs. For the moment, he's more concerned about protecting the child from prime-time television, citing a recent episode of the sitcom "The King of Queens" on CBS. He recalls: "The guy's rolling off his wife, and my 9-year-old asks, 'What do they mean by that?' Should I be letting her watch it?"